Gephardt Follows His Own Success Formula

July 26, 1987|By Donna O'Neal of The Sentinel Staff

Richard Gephardt has always played life by his own script. Maybe it goes back to those zany skits in high school when the Missouri congressman and presidential candidate found he could make people believe in him.

Or perhaps it stems from those college summers at a Christian youth camp that taught the gospel for a happy life: a strong mind, healthy body, social poise and steely faith.

Even as a young lawyer on the city council, Gephardt won political allies by playing the role of a deferential newcomer who drafted crisply worded ordinances that carried their names.

But, most likely, the essence of Richard Andrew Gephardt is rooted in what his strong-willed mother has taught throughout his 46 years: Play by the rules; follow the formula; and, by God, you will succeed.

So he has.

The youngster with the dazzling grin and copper hair who once fancied being an actor, minister or lawyer is now, he says, all three. Today he is a leader among Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives with the reputation of a tireless worker who can forge coalitions on the most divisive issues.

The winning performance that has taken Gephardt from childhood plays to the congressional stage also has earned him endorsements from 70 colleagues in his bid to become president of the United States.

How did a shy youngster from the working-class bungalows of south St. Louis rise to vie for the most important job in the world?

''I am trying to impress upon my mind,'' he wrote in an autobiography at age 15, ''that every day of learning, playing, working and praying is a stepping stone to my goal for a happy life.''

Yet behind that cheerful childhood dogma lies an adult-sized shrewdness, an unspoken pragmatism that holds that playing by the book also means seizing every opportunity to step ahead -- even by switching priorities or shunning principles that no longer seem practical.

It is seen in Gephardt's dropping his once-hearty support of a constitutional amendment to ban abortions, a stance that pleased voters in his conservative congressional district. Now that he seeks the nomination of a party whose feminist interest groups are firmly pro-choice, Gephardt favors what he calls more realistic solutions, such as sex education for teen-agers. His critics call that lacking convictions.

Gephardt calls it being flexible to change.

''I think that when you set goals you've got to have goals beyond the goals you set,'' he said in an interview last month. ''Your convictions don't change -- the circumstances change.''

'BACKBONE IN THE FAMILY'

People who grew up with Gephardt say he was most influenced by his mother, Loreen, 79, who now lives in his St. Louis district home. His father, Louis, died in 1984.

''Mrs. Gephardt was definitely the backbone in the family,'' recalled Carol Engelmeyer, his high school sweetheart. ''When Rich worried about giving a school speech, she'd say, 'You'll do fine,' and it would be fine.''

Even now, when Mrs. Gephardt watches her youngest son give rousing campaign speeches about the America of upward mobility and opportunity, she agrees that ''Dick'' takes after her.

''He talks just exactly like I think,'' she said.

Both have practical minds. Mrs. Gephardt recalled the time her son discussed marrying an aspiring actress he was dating in law school.

''I couldn't see how they could be together with their careers so different,'' she said. ''But Dick made up his own mind.''

In 1966, a year after finishing law school, Gephardt married Jane Byrnes, his ex-girlfriend's sorority sister and daughter of a Nebraska accountant. Byrnes had majored in liberal arts, English and political science.

''I really liked Jane as a person,'' Mrs. Gephardt recalled. ''She just seemed like one of us. I approved of her from the very beginning.''

Such motherly concern started years earlier. When the elementary school principal said her sons were college material, Mrs. Gephardt got a job to build a nest egg -- despite the social stigma of being a working mother.

AN APPETITE FOR LEARNING

''I wanted them to have an education,'' Mrs. Gephardt said. ''I don't think material things are too essential, but I do think knowledge is essential.''

So does Gephardt. From an early age, he had an insatiable appetite for learning, particularly about world leaders and foreign countries. It was the cold-war Fifties, a scary time for a midwestern schoolboy so far from Washington decision-making.

He read and regurgitated everything he could. In his school newspaper, alongside the gossipy articles about student activities, ran a regular column: ''World News by Dick Gephardt.'' He was 13.

Today Gephardt eagerly tackles global issues such as foreign trade, nuclear arms and diplomacy -- sticking around to debate esoteric points long after his weary peers have departed.

Gephardt's dogged interest during childhood in such complicated topics -- instead of outdoor games -- earned him the nickname ''hothouse rose'' because he reminded relatives of a greenhouse flower that bloomed only indoors.